So. Still hacking up bloody phlegm and still really mad at that doctor who said I wasn’t sick.

I forgot to mention the doctor’s remedy for how to get through the week: just use over-the-counter meds! She admitted that it wouldn’t actually cure me but it would relieve my symptoms.

You know how in over-the-counter medication (OTCM) commercials, the tagline is always “So you can get through your day!” The delivery of said tagline is always accompanied by a newly symptom-free actor who now skips happily through fields and blue skies and throngs of dancing admirers.

The thing is, when the rest of us self-medicate with OTCMs, it’s not so that we can have a picnic in the sunshine. It’s so we can drag our sorry asses back to the cubicle and through another 8 hours of work. 

My kinesiology/nutritionist professor recently confirmed what is, for me, a central tenet of Chinese home remedy theory: OTCMs don’t work and you shouldn’t take them. In striking contrast to my Caucasian partner, I was rarely given medication growing up (unless I was really very sick). Yes, OTCMs are effective at masking your fever, cough or congestion, but expelling phlegm and snot is exactly what your immune system needs to do in order to get rid of harmful pathogens from your body. Fevers are for “cooking” the pathogen to death.

Mask the symptoms, and you may get on with your day, but the illness stays with you for longer because your immune system doesn’t get to do what it needs to.

Why does my doctor operate from such a different paradigm, one that substitutes the illusion of health for the real thing? Why does the field of kinesiology and nutrition take such a different approach? My prof actually recommended – get this – that we take care of our bodies when sick. As in, take the day off to sleep, take in plenty of liquids and good nutrition, and your immune system will take care of you. 

That’s actually what you should do when you’re sick. The only reason why you would need OCTMs is if you don’t get sick leave benefits (students, people on contracts, people with deadlines, etc), and if you’re forced to work through your illness. Just like how the electric light once extended the number of hours you could work in a day, OCTMs extend the labour force power. OCTMs are another formula for good capitalistic workers, and for some reason my doctor is in on the scheme.

So what’s this sick stuff you’re going on about? Just pop a pill and get back to work!

Since neither [Cosmo] nor I can drive, going to the doctor’s has become quite a futile exercise. As soon as we’re well enough to haul ourselves onto public transit, we’re probably well enough on the way to recovery to not require a doctor.

That said, most common illnesses require bed rest most than doctors and meds, but it would be an annoyance in case going to the doctor actually became necessary.

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I was hit with the flu last Friday evening. It was the works – muscle soreness, fever, sharp throat pain, head congestion, etc. I lost my voice for a couple of days too. But yesterday night I couldn’t breathe without starting a round of coughing, which made sleeping really impossible, so I finally agreed to see a doctor in the morning. Cosmo made the appointment call to the university clinic for me while I slept in until about 9 am.

Despite not sleeping very much overall, I actually woke up feeling much better. Some of my voice had come back. I still felt like Ron Weasley when he got hit by the Slug-Vomiting Charm however, on account of coughing up toxic-looking phelgm every hour (Thank you J.K. Rowling for the perfect metaphor). Also entertaining: my abs are actually sore from coughing.

I noted to the doctor that I was feeling better, and she remarked herself that I would probably be coughing into the next week.

Then she told me that I should’ve gone to my 8:30am class this morning and taken the quiz instead of resting and sleeping in.

Well fuck! I spent most of the weekend not being able to do more than sit while my head spun. Just the thought of solid food made me want to puke. I only started feeling normal today, and I didn’t know I would before waking up. Nobody hates missing school more than I do – I didn’t get straight fucking A’s by sitting on my ass! I didn’t really need the doctor’s note because the quiz I missed today was only worth about 0.5% of my overall mark, but I still think I deserve a fair chance.

Since when was it the doctor’s job to ensure good capitalistic workers who put in no less than 10 hours of labour each day? Since when did doctors prioritize moving students along the university machine over minimizing the spread of infection? Nobody wants to hear me blow my nose through lecture or to see me cough up a slug-phlegm in class. Even if the university system necessitates the mistrust of students because there are often 300 people in a class, I should not be humiliated (she practically called me lazy) for being obviously sick and desiring a proper recovery. As if playing catch-up weren’t enough of a bitch already.

I’m feeling super jaded and bitter. Since when did health-care practitioners become totally unconcerned with the maintenance and promotion of good health?